This is the tractor that Rick is looking for

[Brian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG2mBu3pxVo

Must be somewhere in the UK from the cars and the Discovery.

[BearCreek Majors]

A steam engine with a radiator?????? I'm going to have to look into this thing!!

Pat

[oehrick]

Yes Brian, if only ! I can't recall who owns it now but live in hopes of it appearing at the RNS event someday - there are several others surviving still in the US https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU2cuE6MhzA shows some of the details well - naturally I would like a pair to make a BDD out of

So much closer than the Garrett Suffolk Punch ever got to a serious contender from the little contemporary info I've been able to find for them, its the condenser (rather than the flash steam generator) being so effective that gave it the edge, despite the slow groundspeed they were supposed to condense as, or even more efficiently than the steam cars of the time - they would probably need less makeup feedwater in a day than a Fordson Standard boiled away.

OOOh i'm going all shivery just thinking of that bottom end torque, steam steering & TPL cylinders

Hope none of the UK or Dutch members have had wind damage from that little atmospheric disturbance Pat P and D Dave sent us as an early Xmas gift

[BearCreek Majors]

I did a little reading and found this to be a very interesting tractor, they operated these at 600psi! After the steam was discharged from the engine it was sent through the radiator to condense it back to a liquid and then returned to the water tank. I cant help but to wonder if this technology would have been available 20 to 30 years earlier, would the gas engine have gotten the upper hand that it did?

My apologies for the bad weather over there, but it has been unbelievably nice in my little corner of the world, 40's F this weekend and into the 50'S this next week. And Granny's not complaining, as I cant get hurt on the snowmobile when there is no snow!

Pat

[Brian]

You could always come to Cumbria Pat and try water skiing down a few main roads!

I know nothing about steam engines, Rick is this boards Authority on them but back in the 1950 and right up to the early 1960's we had a company in Dereham that ran Sentinel Steamers on road maintenance. They used them as tar lorries and went around the villages spraying coal tar on the roads, covering it with granite chippings then had a fleet of Aveling and Porter steam rollers following behind to press the chippings into the surface. It may be hind sight but we did not see that many pot holes back in those days, at least I do not remember too many. They were a bit of a problem on bike tyres until they got really pressed in with traffic.

From what I remember the Sentinels were coal fired. My first boss used to run a transport company and went daily from Swaffham to Covent Garden Market in London in a Foden Steamer with solid tyres delivering vegetables.

I remember the first piece of tarmac road I rode a bike on from Swaffham to North Pickenham. Only about 16 but I still remember the hum of the tyres as I sped along it on my Dawes Racer with a four speed Derailier(sp) gear system.

[oehrick]

I think the extra load of carrying or needing to refill with water would eventually skew the path from steam to i/c Pat but with adhesion being important, tractors might well have had more chance of succeeding, Condensing carries a penalty in both weight and power for forcing a draught and the steam raising side carries both weight and life time / boiler inspection penalties.

In the UK it was the 'horse owning classes' who enabled restrictive legislation that effectively throttled road steam development and eventually forced it off the road to protect the oil lobby. UK agricultural steam development led fairly swiftly to a pattern of engine which varied relatively little between makers throughout the period of building and despite innovations being tried were not well received by farmers or contractors with little capital due to poor harvests, depression etc. Think David Roberts of Hornsby and his endless track, no interest from UK farming or military so he sold it to Holt, the UK had to pay to use it when it was needed for Fosters to build 'landships' with, which Churchill and the Navy saw the benefits of long before the Army cottoned on

Knowing less about Stateside steam on the land, it seems there was a large number of smaller makers continually experimenting AND finding customers for a wide diversity of designs, some of which worked and some of which didn't, then eventually design settling down to fewer larger makers but with a wider range of designs than in the UK.

How many Bryant equivalents were produced I don't know but it looks like a non or smaller maker of steam taking the settling down design from the IH 10-20 or similar era of i/c tractors with a light steam plant fitted, I'd like to know more about its development and how it got on when tested at Nebraska (if it was).

One thing we do know from history, it really stood no chance, not being painted Empire Blue with Orange wheels

[BearCreek Majors]

Thanks for the offer to go water skiing Brian, but someone would probably have to scrape my remains off a road sign.

They are some interesting machines, You cant help but appreciate the mechanical genius and workmanship of the time that built steam power.

Pat